Family 1
A little background about our family helps explain our life and culture. My husband and I met in 1993 and since then have spent some time living together in
East Africa, in Chicago and have spent 4 years living in New Zealand. We returned
to the United States in 2000 and chose to live in Seattle in part because of its similarities to New Zealand (specifically,
the water and the mountains that surround the city and the outdoor opportunities they offer, the temperate climate and the
good coffee!). We’re both 37 years old and have 2 children. Our eldest is 4 and our youngest is 2. We’re expecting
a third child in April. We place a lot of value on spending time together as
a family and on weekends we do family outings that include activities of interest to the children. We love going to Seattle’s open-air food markets in the summer and visiting the many parks and zoos. There’s also many great hikes and skiing opportunities within one hour of Seattle.
We
both value our professional careers but have worked hard to ensure that our jobs are flexible so that our family life doesn’t
suffer too much. Our family is our biggest priority. When our third child is born in April, I will stay home from work for 6 months. While the baby is an infant our main goal for him is that he is safe and feels secure and loved. For this reason, we are looking for an au pair who genuinely enjoys babies and infants, who is patient
and loving and who will enjoy sharing the milestones that occur in the first year of life.
This is one of our main priorities in selecting our au pair. We want the
kids to continue to be active and engaging little children. They both have a
good sense of humor and a creative imagination.
The
schedule for our au pair will change throughout the year because of the baby. Until
he is born, the au pair will look after the children while I am at work, including taking our son to preschool every afternoon. After the baby is born the au pair will help me with the 3 children. When I go back to work after 6 months the au pair will be responsible for all 3 of the children –
by this time our eldest will have started school and our youngest may be in preschool.
Our
ideal childcare provider would be a family member and we see and au pair as the closest alternative because she would live
as part of the family. We like the idea of building a strong relationship with
the person looking after our children. We also like the idea of growing our children’s
interest in the world, by hosting someone from outside the United States. We
think it’s important for our children to be exposed to different cultures and ideas.
Finally, we like the fact that the au pair program provides an opportunity for young people to have a one-year adventure
in the United States. We believe that is likely to result in energetic, enthusiastic
candidates who will bring fresh ideas and passion to what they do. We would like
the relationship between our family and our au pair to be fun and interesting. We
look forward to getting to know our au pair and learning from each other.
Family 2
Hi, we have three beautiful daughters.
Our eldest is 6, the second is 4 and our youngest is 2. Both Mom and Dad
work as consultants however when our youngest was born and, realizing that the elder two were already ‘girls’
and no longer toddlers by any measure, we decided to cut back on my work hours. As
a result I am home most Mondays and Fridays. I’m fortunate to have a good
job, as we both do, and although the income was reduced, we’re happier with me spending more time with our girls.
Our eldest is about to start Kindergarten.
Her school schedule will be five days a week from roughly 12 noon to 3:30pm.
Our township will provide a bus pick up from the street near our home. Our
second eldest will be in her second year of preschool, which will be for three afternoons a week. Our eldest has great verbal abilities and she is quite the leader of the pack. All of our girls enjoy swimming, dancing, art, sleigh riding and picking flowers from our yard. Our second eldest is a cutie pie, real sensitive and sharing. She has an incredible infectious laugh that is just a pleasure to hear.
Our youngest is a riot. She loves to laugh and is probably going to be
our family comedian. Although not yet two, she is into everything with her sisters. Just becoming verbal, she is quite proud of mastering a new word, no matter that only
her sisters, Mom and Dad can usually interpret it.
Because of pre-school friends and living in a great neighbourhood with kids,
our girls’ social lives are vastly more entertaining then ours. They have
a seemingly never ending calendar filled with lists of birthday parties to attend!
Culture wise, both my husband and I are first generations born in the US,
me from Polish immigrants and my husband from Italian immigrants, both with strong family orientations. We’re fortunate to have a great big house. An Au Pair
would have a private room leading to their private bedroom, bath and sitting room.
Our former Au Pair loved the arrangement. Specific household rules revolve
around creating the best environment for our children. A safe and loving environment
tops all other criteria. New York City is an easy 1 hour commute. Even closer to home, Ramapo College is located across the road at the end of our street.